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Out migration has been occurring for the past 90 years in North Dakota. According to historian David Danbom, it is primarily related to changes in the agricultural economy and the movement from a labor-intensive to a capital-intensive agriculture. In the early 1900.s there were 500,000 people living on farms in North Dakota. In the most recent census the estimated figure is closer to 60,000. The out-migration has continued among younger people who have traditionally left the state to find higher paying jobs. Today's global economy means that young people no longer have to leave, and that there is actually enough demand for skilled workers to reverse the trend. However, the availability of jobs, and the ability to retain young people and bring natives "back home" remains a challenge. According to Barry Nelson with Lutheran Social Services, one of the things North Dakotan's must do to stop the population decline is to keep up with the rest of the world and to take risks. He says, "I truly believe that the future of this state is intrinsically linked to its ability to accommodate people. There are people in the world who need a place to start over again. They didn't choose to have to start over again, but they need a place. North Dakota, for all its downsides, continues to be one of the most safe places on earth. It offers diversity, beauty for people who are willing to see it, and I think the two could be linked together for a glorious future that would include third and fourth generation North Dakotans and people who have been here a few scant weeks. I think if we can be intentional about seeing this as an opportunity, there is no limit on where we could go." It's Not About Weather or Geography by Jack Zaleski Reprinted with permission by the Forum. Originally published 7/22/2001 Prairie Public Television is preparing a special on people who came to North Dakota and stayed. Like me. I was interviews a few weeks ago by the program's producer, Becky Jones. She's a native of the Devil's Lake area, where I settled when I came to North Dakota to stay in 1969. The program's premise is intriguing and timely: intriguing because there are more non-native North Dakotans than a lot of people realize; timely because of the introspective and often shallow debate that has bubbled up around the proposal to drop "North" from North Dakota. An old friend called last week to tell me he'd come home to the Midwest. His roots are in rural North Dakota. He was the third generation on the farm. The farm failed and he tried to build a new life, first in Minnesota, later in California. He's back. The shine is off the Golden State, he said, and people who moved there from the Midwest are getting out and heading home if they can. Why? It's civilized here, my friend said. Civilized. What a revealing word. The implication is that civil behavior in other places-California, for example-no longer is routine. Probably true. Anyone who travels the nation feels the differences between here and there. Yet, we beat ourselves up because of meaningless geographical remoteness and a challenging climate. But it's not about weather or geography. The weather is worse (deadly) in other places. Some of those successful big population states are violent crime centers, earthquake zones, lie in the path of hurricanes and regularly lose entire neighborhoods to wildfires. In North Dakota, a destructive ethos suggests talent and brilliance and excellence cannow flower here. I don't know how many times in my three decades in this good place natives have said something like this to me: "You're such a good writer. What are you doing in North Dakota?" Think about the corrosive connotation of such a question. Ask it enough times (such a good teacher or engineer or entrepreneur-fill in the the blank) and young people begin to believe that success lies anywhere but in North Dakota. Natives are the worst offenders. They sometimes can't see the prairie
for the grass. They mask an endemic inferiority complex with defensive
pride. But until North Dakotans really believe in themselves, really put their money and resources where all that defensive pride now lurks, nothing will change.
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